I’d approached the mom to get both her name and the name of her son because I’d captured what I’d hoped was an adorable photo I could send in to the paper for our parade coverage. 

As I scribbled down the letters as she spelled them out one by one, the familiarity took hold. 

“Not to sound like a stalker,” I said sheepishly, “but I think I follow you on Instagram.”

“What’s your name again?” she asked, only for recognition to dawn on her face when I shared my own name. 

“I thought so! I didn’t want to sound like a stalker, but I follow you too!”

You could call it a story of the digital age. You could call it a story of the changing face of our small towns.

I’d call it a serendipitous side effect of both. 

Once upon a time I knew seemingly everyone in Callicoon. Today the town where I learned my ABCs and 123s is full of faces familiar and completely unknown, the landscape changed significantly – as have the landscapes of those towns nearby. 

And yet it’s thanks in large part to Instagram that I find myself not just able to track the transformations but to feel a part of them too. Instagram is a place where people and businesses alike are able to tell their stories in real time, able to engage with one another and bridge the gap between a world that’s entirely digital and the small town feel we love so much. 

Are you among the dubious?

Feel that we’re far too connected to our phones and missing out on the moments that made our small town communities so vibrant to begin with?

I will not pretend that there aren’t drawbacks to our uber connected world in general or social media in specific. Nor do I fail to see that certain corners of Instagram do far more harm than good, especially in terms of the speed with which disinformation travels on the platform. 

Still, it’s hard to over-emphasize what Instagram has given me as a small business owner and as a busy mom both, especially in the past few years with the amount of time we’ve spent at home, trapped far away from people.  

It’s through this little box on a phone in  my hand that I’ve felt like I’m still a part of my own community, even in my busiest season as a photographer when I’m barely able to run out for groceries ... forget socializing! 

Just this past weekend it was through 20 minutes stolen late at night for some Instagram feed scrolling that I not only learned of a business in Eldred that I’d never heard of before but used the app’s “save” function to bookmark an upcoming artist’s event at the spot. It’s where I connected with a local artist about her beautiful pottery this past weekend and stumbled across a Narrowsburg business that a friend and I plan to visit soon. 

It’s on Instagram too that I’ve found a way to mix my own unique skill sets as both a photographer and digital marketer, sharing not just my favorite photos but the marketing tidbits that I know other small business owners need (and slowly are beginning to find!). 

And it’s on Instagram where I can keep up with all that my teenager hours away at college is up to without having to hit up their phone with a bunch of nagging texts. 

So next time you’re up late and have nothing to do, feel free to wander your own community over on Instagram. And if you wander over to @jeannesagerphotography, feel free to say hi. It won’t make you a stalker. I promise!